For the first time in decades the entire Manteca High student body will be able to fill the school gym for an assembly when the next school year starts Aug. 4.

That’s because a new gym — part of $41 million in Measure G and growth fee financed improved to the 102-year-old campus — will be ready for use.

The gym seats 2,200. That includes 1,800 in the bleachers and another 400 with chairs set up on the floor.

That’s three times the capacity of the Winter Gym that now will become the small gym. In one fell swoop, the Manteca High campus has become home to the largest big and small gyms in the district.

The school’s enrollment is now hoovering at 1,800 students as it is absorbing growth from the rapidly growing southwest Manteca neighborhoods. The campus — with the use of some of the $260 million in Measure A funds approved by voters in November 2020 as well as Mello Roos taxes — is being modernized and expanded to accommodate a design capacity of 2,200 students. To do so there will be a pair of 2-story classroom structures built over the next two to three years.

The community got the first glimpse of their investment during a Manteca Unified school board meeting that also spotlighted “The State of the District.” (Stories regarding the State of the District will appear later this week.)

There are finishing touches yet to be completed such as a giant Buffalo mural that will grace the western wall.

Even so, there were plenty of new innovations for Manteca Unified that over time are expected to be adopted as modernization takes place at other high school campuses. How far that effort goes depends upon how effectively the district can stretch its funding that voters approved and taxes collected from growth in Mello Roos districts as well as the pressing needs and priorities at the other campuses.

The new replacement pool is in front of the new gym. It will be ready for use when school opens Aug. 4.

Among the new touches in the gym/swimming complex are:

*An electronic scoreboard for swim meets complete with the timing system that’s encased in an exterior brick wall.

*Mounted cameras that will feed live action of basketball games to large screens in the gym, in the lobby and even inside the snack bar so boosters staffing the snack bar won’t miss out on the action.

*A glass window bank on the eastern wall by the eastern basket that does double duty — better security and sightlines plus allows fans to see the action while using a raised counter to stand at that they can place sodas and such on.

*Six oversized ceiling fans in the gym that also have UV technology designed to kill airborne viruses as well as keep air circulating better.

*Coaches/PE teacher offices have glass walls that do double duty as white boards during the halftime of games.

*Locker rooms with a built-in ventilation system that drops directly into banks of lockers.

That ventilation system gives you an idea of the attention to detail.

Aaron Bowers, Manteca Unified director or facilities and operations, notes it is designed to keep gym clothes and such from creating a stench as happens typically in locker rooms.

The lockers have three smaller lockers next to a common locker where street clothes can be placed. There are also sports team lockers within both the boys’  and the girls’ locker rooms.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com